The Need for Social Media

Social Media vs Traditional Media

Social media are distinct from traditional media, such as newspapers, television, and film. While social media are relatively inexpensive and accessible tools that enable anyone (even private individuals) to publish or access information, traditional media generally require significant resources to publish information. Examples of traditional media issues include a printing press or a government-granted spectrum license.

"Traditional media" are commonly referred to as "traditional", "broadcast" or "mass" media.

One characteristic shared by both social media and traditional media is the capability to reach small or large audiences; for example, either a blog post or a television show may reach zero people or millions of people. The properties that help describe the differences between social media and traditional media depend on the study. Some of these properties are:

1. Reach - both traditional and social media technologies provide scale and enable anyone to reach a global audience.
2. Accessibility - the means of production for traditional media are typically owned privately or by government; social media tools are generally available to anyone at little or no cost.
3. Usability - traditional media production typically requires specialized skills and training. Most social media do not, or in some cases reinvent skills, so anyone can operate the means of production.
4. Recency - the time lag between communications produced by traditional media can be long (days, weeks, or even months) compared to social media (which can be capable of virtually instantaneous responses; only the participants determine any delay in response). As traditional media are currently adopting social media tools, this feature may well not be distinctive anymore in some time.
5. Permanence - traditional media, once created, cannot be altered (once a magazine article is printed and distributed changes cannot be made to that same article) whereas social media can be altered almost instantaneously by comments or editing.

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